DETECTIVES hunting the killer of a retired Birmingham restaurant owner savagely beaten during a street robbery have arrested two men from Chester.

The suspects, who have not been named but are aged 26 and 27, were arrested in the Chester area on Tuesday morning.

They were taken to the West Midlands for questioning and have remained in custody at Steelhouse Lane police station in Birmingham.

Detectives were granted an extension to continue interviewing the men until today.

Khaliur Rahman, 58, died in hospital more than a month after he was set upon by two white youths and robbed of #90 in Birmingham city centre on October 22 last year.

The case was featured on BBC's Crimewatch programme. CCTV footage was shown of the murder suspects.

Det Chief Insp Graeme Pallister, the officer leading the inquiry, said at the time of Mr Rahman's death: 'It was a very violent attack with heavy blows to the abdomen area which caused internal injuries which led to his death.

'Mr Rahman was a well-known and respected man and had retired from running a number of restaurants across the city. His family are distraught. Not only was their father attacked and robbed but they had to see him slowly die in front of them.'

Mr Rahman had three sons and two daughters aged between four and 24, and was a popular figure in the Bangladeshi community.

Detectives travelled to Manchester last December in the hunt for the killers because one of the men captured by CCTV cameras, who was refused entry to a snooker hall, told a taxi driver he was from the Manchester area.